Definition of Mania
by Zerojackson
Summary: Tsunade is forced to take desperate measures, as she sends three chunnin; her apprentice, a interrogator in training, and a Root member on an S-Rank Mission. The Village of Oshidamaru is their destination. What they find interwoven within the village will not only rip away their perception of the world, but also break them, both mentally and physically. No Pairings, pure Horror.


**Hello there everybody, and welcome to my newest story, Definition of Madness.**_  
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**If you are new to my profile, or my stories in general, I welcome you. My name is Jackson, I am fifteen years of age, and reside in the wonderfully droll country of England. I like all manner of Naruto fanfiction, and all manner of pairings, whether Hetero, Yaoi or Yuri. I am a firm supporter in all of those, and if you have a problem with this, I would suggest that you either A) Leave this story and my profile right now (Although there is no Yaoi in this fanfiction, but there may be Yuri, but I'll get to that in a bit.) Or B) Read this story, and be respectful of my opinions. I will be respectful of yours, if you are respectful of mine, deal? Great!**

**Now, actually onto the topic of this fic, a warning:**

**This is an M Rated Fanfiction. There may be cussing, and there most certainly be gore. Lots and lots of gore. So, if you are squeamish, this might not be the best story for you. **

**Okay, so we're all of the age to read this? Good.**

**This idea came to me when I realized that there weren't that many Sai fanfiction here, and I was disheartened by this. Having recently become attached to Sai, I felt I could at least try to give him a decent run in a story of his own. And so, because of this, it will be my first time writing Sai ever. Please do tell me if I make him too OCC, or not in character. I strive to get better. I also have not yet delved into the horror side of Naruto Fanfiction, so I am completely new to that as well. So, this is mainly going to be a more gory horror, rather than a tense horror, although hopefully there will be some tense moments.**

**Now, onto the second thing out of three I must mention, Romance. This story has a 50/50 chance of becoming a SaiSakuIno fanfiction. I've never written a harem before, so this should once again be interesting. However, I must stress that this is a _horror_ fanfiction first and foremost. If I cannot find a way to fit in romance without making it seem cliche and unbelievable, then I won't. However, if I can find a way to implement romance, it may seem rushed. This is because this isn't going to be a super long story. I estimate it (I'm horrible at math) ending at around 50-100,000 words. Quite a big gap, but yeah. It could end sooner, I don't know. So, there is a right down the middle chance of getting some romance in, and if not, well, I'll live.**

**And finally, I came up for the idea for this plot a day ago. Literally, a day ago. So, I have not figured out all of the plot-points. I have a rough, and I mean a rough idea of where this story is going, some twists ect. That's about it. This story will hopefully lead itself on a journey, and I hope you do enjoy it. Also, this is not my main fic. So, updates may be sparing, and I will try to write when I get the itch to dive back into this tale. Thankfully, I enjoyed writing this chapter, so the odds are that I may update soon, we shall see.**

**Anyway, enough of my blathering. I present to you the first chapter of Definition of Madness!**

**This will be the only disclaimer I will do for this fic.**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto. If I did, I would have killed Tobito a _long _time ago...**

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_Definition of Mania: Excessive excitement or enthusiasm or craze._

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It certainly was an interesting picture, seeing three different shinobi in front of her. On one hand, two of them were very similar, but the one that stood in the middle.

Godaime Hokage Tsunade Senju was not a woman that was ever considered to be afraid. She had seen war, she had seen death, she had seen such horrors that even the staunchest of war veterans drunk themselves under the table over. She had seen people blown to bits, body parts surgically removed, bodies flayed open. And more blood to fill a swimming pool. And yet, when she received this report, it shook her to the core. No, Tsunade Senju was not a flappable woman in the slightest. And, if, and when she was ever afraid, something must have been dire.

Tsunade's brown eyes scanned over the three shinobi in front of her, all standing at attention.

Her apprentice, Sakura Haruno, stood straight and respectfully. Her bubble-gum pink hair still remained short, and her emerald green eyes were locked onto the desk. Where her mission lay.

Ino Yamanaka and her bright blonde ponytail also stood straight. Tsunade had to admit that she had come a long way from the foolish pre-teen that she had become acquainted too during the past three years, becoming a strong and capable woman. A good leader, and very talented. Good psychological evaluation skills as well. That was certainly needed for this mission.

Tsunade resisted the urge to reach for the hidden compartment under her desk where she kept her stash of sake. For now.

Her eyes caught a glint of movement. Sakura pushed a lock of her hair behind her ear. Tsunade was also deeply impressed by Sakura's transformation from a whiny pre-teen to a strong independent woman in her own right. Her proficiency with Medical Ninjutsu was above par, and exceeded everybody's expectations. Including her own. She never suspected Sakura to last longer than a week under her tutelage. She was proven wrong. So very wrong. This girl had wanted to prove herself, worked herself to the bone to show that she could be as strong as anyone else, without being from a shinobi clan. And she had accomplished that. Her Medical Ninjutsu would be very valuable. They may need it. And that thought worried the Hokage of Konoha.

And finally, the third member of this special team. His gaze was purely fixated, not on the mission desk, but on Tsunade herself. His eyes.

The one known as Sai was probably the person she most hated on her roster of ninja. He was so cold, and it was frankly disturbing. She had met people who thought they were tools of war, people who thought nothing of themselves. But, they had emotions. Sai didn't. He was a shadow in the night, a faceless being in the crowd. Just like Root wanted him to be. However, reports from Yamato had been coming in strong, suggesting that he had been improving. She hoped that, perhaps, with the help from Naruto, the one who always got through to people, she would break his training. However, for once, Sai was picked for this mission because of his emotions, or lack thereof. She needed someone who could block out… horrendous imagery. The pictures in the mission folder caused her to shudder. Just thinking about them, such travesty… Such horror.

Sai's coal black hair was still cut short, and he still wore the same clothing. His pale complexion was that of a ghost, completely silent and ethereal.

Tsunade Senju of the Sannin, Godaime Hokage for Konohakagure, was about to deal these three teenagers the hardest mission their life. And, it would most likely break them. Bubbly and fierce. Pretty and perky. Soulless and cold. These were the three personalities that fate had given her. She hoped, and prayed, their minds would be intact by the end. That they would come back the same people. But Tsunade had seen too much in her long life, and she knew that something so horrifying changed people. And, as her brown eyes flickered to each and every different colour, green, blue and obsidian, she knew that these people would not come back as they once were. They would come back broken.

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Sai was always patient, and always watching. He picked up on the slightest of details almost instantly. And, by the rigid posture of the Hokage of Konoha, he knew that something was up.

His Root training kicked in and he watched and analysed her movements as her brown eyes flicked over the three teens in the room. She was tense, almost expecting an attack, and yet her slouched position gave off a seemingly relaxed tone. Unless she was tired. His coal black eyes met with her own. Yes, she was tired. Or deeply distressed. Perhaps a combination of the two.

Tsunade Senju was meant to be unflappable, and it seemed as though she were shaken. Sai bristled slightly.

"L-Lady Tsunade?" Sakura inquired, her eyes alight with concern. "Is everything alright?"

Tsunade sighed deeply, her eyes once again scanning the three youths in front of her. "No, it is not."

Ino's brows furrowed, and she stood even straighter. Sai did the same. Sakura, however, slouched slightly, her eyes still filled with much concern. "Why, what's wrong? Is there anything we can do-"

Tsunade cut her off loudly, "This is a mission report Sakura! Act professional and speak when spoken too!"

Sakura recoiled slightly. "O-Of course Lady Tsunade."

The Hokage sighed once more, reaching for the folder on her desk. "What we discuss in this very room, at this very point in time, is never, ever to be discussed with anyone without my saying so. Understand?"

All three Chunnin nodded reluctantly. Satisfied with their answer, Tsunade flipped open the folder. "Two weeks ago, the town of Oshidamaru was attacked." Tsunade paused, whether for effect or to gather her thoughts, the teens did not know. She pulled out a picture from the folder.

Ino let out the smallest of gasps.

A mound of bodies, so thick and wide seemed to stretch across a narrow street, blocking everything from moving down it. It seemed to be raining heavy and hard, causing the already rank corpses to shimmer within the moonlight. A thick pool of blood lay at the bottom of the mound. The most unsettling thing about this image, however, was not the large amount of bodies. It was the eyes. The corpses' eyes all seemed drawn to the camera, almost posing. They were cold, lifeless and grey.

Passing the picture round elicited a gasp from Sakura, and an indifferent frown from Sai. Handing it back to Tsunade, Sai asked, "Why is this not common knowledge? Surely an attack such as this on a village so near this village should have been reported to the general shinobi ranks?"

"I'll get to that in a moment." The Hokage took one long look at the picture before her, the creepy soulless eyes, and slipped it back into the folder. "Take a look at this picture, first."

Taking out another picture, she handed it first to Sai. He examined it with some curiosity. The picture, from what he could gather, was the exact same as the one in the first picture, only in the day-time. However, the street had been cleared of bodies, and looked like any other street. While it was still eerily empty, Sai could see no problem with it. Handing it to Ino, he inclined his head to the side. "Is that the same street as before?"

Tsunade nodded, and Sai continued without pause, "So, what is the point of this picture?"

The Hokage grimaced, placing her hands together on her desk. "This photo was taken one day after the attack by a resident of the village. "The problem is we didn't send anybody out to clean up. The bodies in that photograph were gone, without a trace. No residue, no blood, no smell, nothing."

Sai took pause for a moment. "I… see."

Ino decided to speak up, her long blonde ponytail swishing as she shook her head in disbelief. "Surely, Tsunade-sama, it was some sort of hoax, then?"

The Senju Princess shook her head. "No, it was not. We only received these two photos in a mission slip about a week ago, with a hand-written letter asking for assistance into an attack on the town. I sent out some patrols to investigate. They found multiple dead and wounded. Horrifically so."

Tsunade pulled out three more pictures, and handed them to the teens respectively.

Sakura gazed at her photo, wide eyed. A woman had been ripped in two, intestines and insides spilling out of the gaping hole where her legs should have been. Her face was covered in some sort of thick sticky substance, obscuring the view, which Sakura was grateful for. Until she realised that the sticky substance that adorned the woman's face was in fact what remained. She gulped.

Ino's picture was not much better. Two men were strung up in a tree, tied together by their legs, and hanging upside down. Their throats had been slit, blood dripping down onto the mossy floor. Their arms had been ripped from their sockets, being attacked only by a piece of flesh that dangled precariously. Both these men were naked, soaked in blood, and missing their genitalia. Wonderful. Ino most certainly preferred her men with sexual organs, thank you very much.

Sai's picture was far more disturbing than the others. In it, a little girl, no older than five or so, was cradling a baby in her arms. The baby's neck was twisted in an unnatural angle, skin peeling off its decaying face. The girl was not much better, clumps of her hair laid down on the floor. Her fingers were missing, and, from the shy smile she seemed to be giving the dead child, her teeth were decidedly crooked and brown. What was more disturbing was the piece of flesh stuck between her teeth.

"As you can see, this attack was utterly revolting. Whoever did this has no humanity. But, that's not the main problem."

Tsunade straightened slightly, her brown eyes locking with Sai's. "Every single shinobi that has returned from that town have developed major psychological problems. So much so, that over 95% of the patrols from that area have eventually committed suicide."

Sakura let out a small gasp, covering her mouth. "That's… horrible." Sakura had been a medic in training, and had seen her share of grievous injuries. But the stuff she was witnessing in these photos was barbaric. She understood what could have possibly driven those men and women to killing themselves. Such atrocities.

"I do not understand. These acts, while somewhat disturbing, are by no means any different to the missions we do every day."

Sakura turned to Sai, her eyes ablaze, "Sai, how could you say that! This is… is…"

"Murder, killing, warfare. What we do every day as a shinobi. We are all tools to be used, as weapons of war."

The pinkette's fists clenched. "I thought we had beaten that out of you Sai! Shinobi are not tools!"

Ino watched the war of words with interest, her eyes darting back and forth between the combatants. She didn't know Sai very well, and while he was incredibly cute, his coldness left… an uneasy feeling in her stomach. Sasuke was always cold, but this…

"You taught me to make bonds, and become a loyal comrade. And I accept that I am your friend and comrade Ugly. But, it still remains a fact that we are warriors, those who use under-handed deeds and tactics to kill and main anybody. We will always remain as the tools to those who wish to wield us, and as long as there are people in this world, Sakura, there will always be need for tools."

"That's enough!" Tsunade's booming voice boomed her eyes enraged, "I will not have your petty squabbles interrupt this mission. Is that understood!?"

"Of course Hokage-Sama."

"Yes Lady Tsunade."

"Good. Now, while your argument was annoying, Sai was correct. Shinobi see things like this every-day. That's never going to change. The terrifying thing about this is that most of the people depicted in these photographs are Konoha shinobi."

Tsunade emptied the contents of the folder, picture upon picture spilling out onto her desk. All manner of disgusting things met the three teens' gaze. Empty eye sockets, slit throats, castrated men and women, stomachs flayed open, multiple broken ones sticking out in odd angles. And each and every one of the people in these pictures were Konoha shinobi.

"I now see why you were worried Hokage-sama," Sai muttered, his coal eyes darting over the still images. They were meant to capture life, and yet captured death.

"Yes. However, when another patrol was sent out to recover the bodies, they were gone. The locals had no knowledge of any past patrol, or any attack."

"They could have been lying," Ino suggested, averting her gaze from the sickening pictures and out towards the window.

"No. We probed their minds with your clans Jutsu. They weren't lying. We tested about 80% of the population, and we found no evidence they remembered anything happening. The only proof we have are these photographs. We know that the second set of three photos I showed you were taken by Konoha shinobi. The rest were taken by an unknown source, and sent within mission slips."

Sakura paused for a moment, taking the information on, "Wait, didn't you say that the patrols returned?"

Tsunade sighed. "Yes, they did. However, because of their suicides, I replenished there ranks and sent a fifty strong patrol of Chunnin and Jōnin. They, and the other thirty strong group that was there before, have all been certified as MIA."

Sai grimaced, and ran a hand through his black hair. "So, what you are saying is, when you got the first pictures of the attack on the village, you sent a patrol out to investigate. They did not find anything, and when they came back about 90% of them committed suicide. You then sent more shinobi to do some more investigating. However, they have yet to return, and you have received more photographs of these missing men and women, yes?"

Tsunade nodded, sighing. "And, that is where you three come in. I've already wasted far too many resources on this, and with almost all the other high-ranking Chunnin and Jōnin on other assignments, I've been forced to come to you. While your abilities are second to none, I would have preferred it if I could of sent a Jōnin or two with you for back-up. We cannot spare them."

The three teens nodded in unison, and Tsunade stood up, her eyes dancing across the faces of the young shinobi. "Your mission is this: Head to the village of Oshidamaru and stakeout the area for a week or so. If you find any suspicious activity, at all, you must pull back at once. This is an S-Rank Mission, and of the highest importance."

"Hai," the group chanted, bowing deeply.

"Keep sending regular reports every day, if nothing happens by the end of the week then come home immediately, you do not need my authorization."

"Yes Hokage-sama!"

Tsunade nodded, letting out a breath she didn't know she was holding. "Be ready to leave by the hour, dismissed."

The group shushin'd out of her office quickly.

The Senju Princess sat there for a while, staring blankly at her desk. Finally, she reached into the hidden compartment, and pulled out a bottle of sake. Unscrewing the top with ease, she downed the whole lot with a single long gulp.

She swiped at her eyes, willing the tears to go away. She flipped open another folder on her desk, one with all the missing persons from the patrols at Oshidamaru. With a red stamp, she marked each and every one as missing in action. And, as she went down the list, reaching the final three, her tears began to cascade down her face. She was glad she had sent Shizune to the hospital, nobody should see their teacher so week.

With a major hesitance, and with sobs wracking her body, Tsunade did her duty as Hokage and stamped the final three.

_Kakashi Hatake: MIA._

_Jiraiya of the Sannin: MIA._

_Naruto Uzumaki: MIA._

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**And there we go! I apologize for any spelling mistakes, or grammatical errors. I generally write these really late a night when the world is dead and I can think straight in my household. I know, that's not an excuse, so if you spot any grammatical errors, I would be happy to correct them if you tell me. Please review, if you be so kind. If love hearing peoples thoughts, and how to get better :).**

**Also, bit of advertisement, if you like OC's (I myself am a huge fan, please check my profile for my major main fanfiction, The Winds of Change) then you should love my friend, DownsofFire's fic, Absent Serpent, the tale of three of Orochimaru's prisoners who escape from the confines of his jail and set out in the world to, quite simply, survive.**

**And that is all. Have a great morning/afternoon/evening/night!**


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